Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer compare the run Moapa Valley is on in the Division 1-A to the one Bishop Gorman has put together this season in the upper decision. Other familiar arguments arise, including a debate on whether Arbor View should be considered as the second-best team in the state. Give us your thoughts in the comments.

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Players on every Henderson area high school football team hoped to avoid matching up against Las Vegas High in the playoffs.

The Wildcats won six consecutive Sunrise Regional crowns from 2003 to 2008 in becoming one of the state’s perennial powers, beating every team in its path along the way come the postseason.

Toward the end of the regular season each fall, no team wanted to finish with the No. 4 seed in the Henderson-based Southeast League because they realized their playoff stay would be one game in being paired against Northeast League power Las Vegas in the opener.

Times have changed, and Las Vegas has been knocked out of the playoffs by a Henderson school the past three years, but lining up against the Wildcats still carries an intimidation factor.

For Henderson’s Green Valley High, it will be lining up against Las Vegas every fall. This is the first year of a realignment that sent Green Valley and Silverado from the Southeast to Las Vegas’ Northeast.

Friday at Las Vegas, Green Valley gets the first crack at the Wildcats in a crucial Northeast game. Both teams have just one loss, and both still have to play defending Northeast champion Canyon Springs, meaning the winner will have an inside track on hosting a playoff game next month. Both teams are ranked in the Sun’s top-10.

Las Vegas isn’t the dominating force of years past, but still has plenty of athletic players at the skilled positions — Joshua Mayfield and Vince Castro at wide receiver, and Andrew Moreland at running back.

Green Valley has several younger players at key positions on offense, including sophomore quarterback Christian Lopez. Lopez is nearing double-digit in rushing and passing touchdowns.

Others game of note Friday night include: ‘The Hammer’ rivalry game between Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley, Liberty at Del Sol and Desert Pines at Chaparral.